The present invention relates to an information recording method of repairing repeat data recorded on a write once optical disk (CD-R) and a recording method for a write once optical disk.
Heretofore, there is an optical disk device capable of recording information by sequentially forming pits with irradiation of light beams on a disk-like recording medium. One of such optical disk devices is known as a CD-R (CD-Recordable) conforming to the standards of so-called compact disc (CD).
An optical disk used in such CD-R drive device is a so-called write once optical disk (hereinafter referred to as "CD-R") in which information can be written once by changing optical property of a recording layer within a pregroove which is a previously-formed guide groove with irradiation of light beam of high intensity.
A data structure of CD-R will be described. A PCA (Power Calibration Area) for indicating a light amount adjustment area is formed in the innermost peripheral portion near the center of the optical disk. The PCA area includes a test area for adjusting a light amount of light beam used upon recording and a count area for recording the available state of the test area.
A PMA (Program Memory Area) indicating a program area is formed adjacent to the PCA area in the outer peripheral direction from the center of the optical disk. In the PMA area, there are repeatedly recorded the available state of the optical disk, to be concrete, start address information and end address information of data recorded at the track unit.
There are formed a plurality of sessions adjacent to the PMA area in the outer peripheral direction from the center of the optical disk. Each session includes a lead-in area, a program area and a lead-out area in the outer peripheral direction from the center of the optical disk. In the lead-in area, there are repeatedly recorded data of table of contents information of a signal recorded on the program area as TOC (Table of Contents).
Audio data or the like is recorded on the program area. The program area is shown by a track number corresponding to the number of data to be recorded. The track includes a TD (Track Descriptor) indicative of data structure within the track and a packet which is a unit of data smaller than the track. The same information is repeatedly recorded on the TD.
As one of methods for recording data in the program area of the CD-R once, there is known a track recording method for recording data at the track unit. The track means a collection of data indicative of one music or one file of more than one music or file.
When the track is recorded, an area in which data is not recorded in the program area on the optical disk, i.e., a non-recording area is detected by reading data from the PMA area and data is recorded on the non-recording area at the track unit.
Further, data is recorded at the unit of packet which is the data unit smaller than the track unit. A data recording operation at the packet unit is called "intra-track recording". At that time, information indicative of start address and end address of track are initially recorded in the PMA area such that the track is previously formed of packets of arbitrary number. In the intra-track recording operation, data is sequentially and continuously recorded from the first packet within the track. After this data recording operation is interrupted, data is again recorded from the next address of the address of the final recorded data.
As described above, in the CD-R information recording format, PMA, TOC and TD data of the same information should be recorded continuously a plurality of times at predetermined recording units. Further, in the next recording operation, data should be continuously recorded on the ending portion of the recorded recording unit located on the outermost periphery of the CD-R.
However, in the conventional information recording method of the CD-R, when recording operation of data such as PMA, TOC or TD data is failed and the recording operation is ended in the middle of recording operation, the information recording method does not take a countermeasure for repairing data at all. As a consequence, since the recording in the recording unit area is not completed in accordance with the format, there is then the disadvantage that data cannot be recorded on the area following the recording failure area.